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Ronald McDonald
Ronald McDonald is a clown character used as the primary mascot of the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain. In television commercials, the clown inhabits a fantasy world called McDonaldland, and has adventures with his friends Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird, and The Fry Kids. The McDonald's Corporation has also characterized Ronald McDonald as being able to speak 31 different languages including Mandarin, Dutch, Tagalog, and Hindi.1 In recent years, the "childish" McDonaldland has been largely phased out, and Ronald is instead shown interacting with normal kids in their everyday lives. He was first portrayed on television by Willard Scott. Many people work full-time making appearances in the Ronald McDonald costume, visiting children in hospitals. There are also Ronald McDonald Houses, where parents can stay overnight when visiting sick children in nearby chronic care facilities. Since August 2003, McDonald has been officially recognized as the "Chief Happiness Officer" of the McDonald's Corporation. An author of a chapter on excessive eating once called Ronald McDonald the second most recognized figure in the world (after Santa Claus). Origins Willard Scott The origin of Ronald McDonald involves Willard Scott (a local radio personality who also played Bozo the Clown on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. from 1959 until 1962), who performed using the moniker "Ronald McDonald, the Hamburger-Happy Clown" in 1963 on three separate television spots. These were the first three television ads featuring the character.3 Scott, who went on to become NBC-TV's Today Show weatherman, claims to have "created Ronald McDonald" according to the following excerpt from his book Joy of Living: “ At the time, Bozo was the hottest children's show on the air. You could probably have sent Pluto the Dog or Dumbo the Elephant over and it would have been equally as successful. But I was there, and I was Bozo... There was something about the combination of hamburgers and Bozo that was irresistible to kids... That's why when Bozo went off the air a few years later, the local McDonald's people asked me to come up with a new character to take Bozo's place. So, I sat down and created Ronald McDonald.3 ” George Voorhis/Terry Teene George Voorhis is a late 20th Century American performer who performed under various monikers as a clown. He claims to have been the 'original' Ronald McDonald. (A 1963 newspaper clipping from the Valley News (a San Fernando Valley newspaper) identifies George Voorhees as "Ronald McDonald" at a "local McDonald's restaurant".)needed According to George Voorhees and Terry Teene, in the early part of 1963 Voorhees and Terry Teene created the original character and design of American advertising icon Ronald McDonald, including costume (featuring "French-fry bag pockets") and facial design, for a hired performance at a local Los Angeles, California area McDonald's restaurant. He was subsequently enjoined from performing as, or exhibiting the likeness of, Ronald McDonald in any form.needed McDonald's version McDonald's does not mention Voorhees or claim that Willard Scott "created Ronald" in their statement: “ The smile known around the world," Ronald McDonald is second only to Santa Claus in terms of recognition. (According to one survey, 96% of all school kids in the United States of America recognize Ronald (stunning-stuff.com)). In his first TV appearance in 1963, the happy clown was portrayed by none other than Willard Scott. ” Additionally, on March 28, 2000, Henry Gonzalez, McDonald's Northeast Division President, thanked Scott for creating Ronald McDonald, during a taped tribute to Scott on the Today Show. In 1965, Roy Burgold assigned Aye Jaye as Boss Clown worldwide in charge of hiring, writing, creating shows, media handling, training, and major events such as The White House appearances, Macy Days, etc., and finally opening Ronald worldwide for 35 years. Aye Jaye was responsible for the hiring of hundreds of past field Ronalds Actors Someone portraying Ronald McDonald on their way to a McDonald's event.At any given time, there are dozens, or possibly hundreds, of actors retained by McDonald's to appear as Ronald McDonald in restaurants and events. It is assumed, however, that the company uses only one actor at a time to play the character in national television commercials. Following is a list of such primary Ronald actors. George Actors Someone portraying Ronald McDonald on their way to a McDonald's event.At any given time, there are dozens, or possibly hundreds, of actors retained by McDonald's to appear as Ronald McDonald in restaurants and events. It is assumed, however, that the company uses only one actor at a time to play the character in national television commercials. Following is a list of such primary Ronald actors. Willard Scott (Washington, D.C. 1963–1965) Bev Bergeron (Southern California, 1966-68) George Voorhis (South California, 1968-1970) Bob Brandon (1970-1975) King Moody (1975-1984) Squire Fridell (1984-1991) Jack Doepke (1990-1992) Joe Maggard (1994-2007) Brad Lennon (2007-Present) Various forms of the name "Ronald McDonald" as well as costume clown face persona, etc. are registered trademarks of McDonald's. McDonald's trains performers to portray Ronald using identical mannerisms and costume, to contribute to the illusion that they are one character. McDonald's marketing designers and stylists changed elements of the Ronald McDonald character, persona, style, costume and clown face when they adopted the clown as a trademark, possibly in deference to "The Code", the tradition of clowns to scrupulously avoid copying other clowns' appearance or performance style. George Voorhees (1963) Terry Teene (1963) Willard Scott (Washington, D.C. 1963–1965) Bev Bergeron (Southern California, 1966-68) Bob Brandon (1970-1975) King Moody (1975-1984) Squire Fridell (1984-1991) Jack Doepke (1990-1992) Joe Maggard (1994-2007) Brad Lennon (2007-Present) Various forms of the name "Ronald McDonald" as well as costume clown face persona, etc. are registered trademarks of McDonald's. McDonald's trains performers to portray Ronald using identical mannerisms and costume, to contribute to the illusion that they are one character. McDonald's marketing designers and stylists changed elements of the Ronald McDonald character, persona, style, costume and clown face when they adopted the clown as a trademark, possibly in deference to "The Code", the tradition of clowns to scrupulously avoid copying other clowns' appearance or performance style.